Editing Kludge (section)

== Industries ==

=== Aerospace engineering ===
In [[aerospace]], a kludge was a temporary design using separate commonly available components that were not flightworthy in order to proof the design and enable concurrent software development while the integrated components were developed and manufactured. The term was in common enough use to appear in a fictional movie about the US space program.<ref>''[[Marooned (1969 film)|Marooned]]'', a 1969 film. Dialog between space crew and Ted approximately 30 minutes into the movie, following capsule power down. Ted says, "I'm in Huntsville kludging up a simulator of the XRV." The film was based on the [[Marooned (novel)|1964 novel]] of the same name.</ref>

Perhaps the ultimate kludge was the first [[United States|US]] [[space station]], [[Skylab]]. Its two major components, the Saturn Workshop and the [[Apollo Telescope Mount]], began development as separate projects (the SWS was kludged from the [[S-IVB]] stage of the [[Saturn 1B]] and [[Saturn V]] launch vehicles, the ATM was kludged from an early design for the descent stage of the [[Apollo Lunar Module]]). Later the SWS and ATM were folded into the [[Apollo Applications Program]], but the components were to have been launched separately, then docked in orbit. In the final design, the SWS and ATM were launched together, but for the single-launch concept to work, the ATM had to pivot 90 degrees on a truss structure from its launch position to its on-orbit orientation, clearing the way for the crew to dock its [[Apollo Command/Service Module]] at the axial docking port of the Multiple Docking Adapter.

The Airlock Module's manufacturer, [[McDonnell Douglas]], even recycled the hatch design from its [[Project Gemini|Gemini spacecraft]] and kludged what was originally designed for the conical Gemini Command Module onto the cylindrical Skylab Airlock Module. The Skylab project, managed by the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]'s [[Marshall Space Flight Center]], was seen by the Manned Spacecraft Center (later [[Johnson Space Center]]) as an invasion of its historical role as the NASA center for manned spaceflight.  Thus, MSC personnel missed no opportunity to disparage the Skylab project, calling it "the kludge".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dunar |first1=Andrew J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15NYG6C9GaUC&dq=msc+skylab+kludge&pg=PA188 |title=Power to Explore: A History of Marshall Space Flight Center, 1960-1990 |last2=Administration |first2=U. S. National Aeronautics and Space |date=1999 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office, Office of Policy and Plans |isbn=978-0-16-058992-8 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Computer science ===
In modern [[computer science|computing]] terminology, a "kludge" (or often a "'''hack'''") is a solution to a problem, the performance of a task, or a system fix which is inefficient, inelegant ("hacky"), or even incomprehensible, but which somehow works. It is similar to a [[workaround]], but quick. To "kludge around something" is to avoid a [[Computer bug|bug]] or difficulty by building a kludge, perhaps exploiting properties of the bug itself. A kludge is often used to modify a working system while avoiding fundamental changes, or to ensure backwards compatibility. ''Hack'' can also be used with a positive connotation, for a quick solution to a frustrating problem.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kidder |first=Tracey |title=The Soul of a New Machine |publisher=Avon |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-380-59931-8 |title-link=The Soul of a New Machine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Raymond |first1=Eric S. |title=The Jargon File: The Meaning of 'Hack' |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html |date=2004}}</ref>

A kludge is often used to fix an unanticipated problem in an earlier kludge; this is essentially a kind of [[cruft]].

A solution might be a kludge if it fails in [[corner case]]s. An intimate knowledge of the problem domain and execution environment is typically required to build a corner-case kludge. More commonly, a kludge is a [[heuristic (computer science)|heuristic]] which was expected to work almost always, but ends up failing often.

A 1960s [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] anecdote tells of a computer part which needed a slightly delayed signal to work. Rather than setting up a timing system, the kludge was to connect long coils of internal wires to slow the electrical signal.

Another type of kludge is the evasion of an unknown problem or bug in a [[computer program]]. Rather than continue to struggle to diagnose and fix the bug, the programmer may write additional code to compensate. For example, if a variable keeps ending up doubled, a kludge may be to add later code that divides by two rather than to search for the original incorrect computation.

In computer networking, use of [[Network address translation|NAT]] (Network Address Translation) (RFC 1918) or [[Port address translation|PAT]] (Port Address Translation) to cope with the shortage of [[Internet Protocol|IPv4]] addresses is an example of a kludge.

In [[FidoNet]] terminology, ''kludge'' refers to a piece of control data embedded inside a message.

=== Evolutionary neuroscience ===
{{see also|Evolutionary baggage}}
The ''kludge'' or ''kluge'' metaphor has been adapted in fields such as [[evolutionary neuroscience]], particularly in reference to the [[human brain]].

The neuroscientist [[David J. Linden|David Linden]] discusses how [[intelligent design]] proponents have misconstrued brain anatomy:<ref>{{cite book |last=Linden |first=David J. |title=The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/accidentalmind0000lind/page/245 245–246] |isbn=978-0-674-02478-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/accidentalmind0000lind/page/245}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The transcendent aspects of our human experience, the things that touch our emotional and cognitive core, were not given to us by a Great Engineer. These are not the latest design features of an impeccably crafted brain. Rather, at every turn, brain design has been a kludge, a workaround, a jumble, a pastiche. The things we hold highest in our human experience (love, memory, dreams, and a predisposition for religious thought) result from a particular agglomeration of ad hoc solutions that have been piled on through millions of years of evolution history. It's not that we have fundamentally human thoughts and feelings {{em|despite}} the kludgy design of the brain as molded by the twists and turns of evolutionary history. Rather, we have them precisely {{em|because}} of that history.}}

The research psychologist [[Gary Marcus]]'s book ''[[Kluge (book)|Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind]]'' compares evolutionary kluges with engineering ones like [[manifold vacuum]]-powered [[windshield wipers]]&nbsp;– when accelerating or driving uphill, "Your wipers slowed to a crawl, or even stopped working altogether." Marcus described a biological kluge:<ref>{{cite book |last=Marcus |first=Gary |title=Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co. |year=2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/klugehaphazardco00marc/page/4 4–5] |isbn=978-0-618-87964-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/klugehaphazardco00marc/page/4}}</ref>

{{blockquote|For instance, the vertebrate eye's [[retina]] that is installed backward, facing the back of the head rather than the front. As a result, all kinds of stuff gets in its way, including a bunch of wiring that passes through the eye and leaves us with a pair of [[Blind spot (vision)|blind spot]]s, one in each eye.}}